Henrico Small Business Spotlight: Veggies and Herbs

Shireese Borden, 33, wants nutritional health and fitness to be “accessible, achievable and affordable.” Veggies and Herbs is the platform she created to make it happen.

Veggies and Herbs acts as a resource center where customers can take advantage of all sorts of health and wellness services. With accessibility at the forefront of her mission, Borden tries to give people the tools they need to improve their lives on their own.

“You're just providing the knowledge for everyone so that they can have it and make better decisions for themselves and just have great lives,” Borden explains of her business.

At the heart of Veggies and Herbs lies Borden’s meal prepping services. After graduating from Virginia Union University in 2015, the former student athlete was working her first “big girl job” in corporate America and bringing healthy lunches to work. Eventually, her colleagues wanted help with their own meals.

“I started making lunches for my coworkers, and their goal was to eat healthy but be full,” Borden said. ”So that was my mission.”

Before she knew it, Borden was meal-prepping for multiple people who wanted healthy and convenient meal options at an affordable price. So when Veggies and Herbs officially came to fruition in 2018, meal prepping was the first service she offered. 

“The basic meal prep is the first one that I came out with where it's the meat and two sides,” Borden said. “Each week there is a menu that comes out, a basic menu, and it changes weekly. So there's always three options for a meat or an entree, whether it be seafood, there’s a chicken option and a turkey option. And then we have about five or six sides you can choose from, and they range from cabbage, collard greens, grilled veggies, we do a sweet baked yam that is to die for… We try to make all the veggies in a different kind of way so you get to try them.”

Check out the Veggies and Herbs website to see Borden’s current lineup. Any given week, you’ll see options like Breakfast Prep, Seafood Prep, Keto Meal Prep, Veggie Prep, a Healthy Day Combo and everything in between.

Seeing the impact of her meals led Borden to offer her next service at Veggies and Herbs: nutrition consulting. She wanted to help people learn about how fueling affects your body in many ways.

“They say your gut is your second brain, and that’s true,” Borden said. “So the nutrition aspect of [the business] is mostly providing information and providing knowledge to people.”

When Borden meets you for an initial consultation, she’ll spend about 45 minutes to an hour and a half talking about what “a day in the life of eating” looks like for you, your relationship with health and your overall goals.

“Once we establish that need and where that person is at, in that time, we then discuss things and options about moving forward,” Borden said. “Whether that is incorporating more water, incorporating more fruits and veggies, taking away sugary, processed foods…

“We want them to gain the knowledge so that they can be more equipped to make better decisions for themselves.”

But Borden doesn’t stop there. She’s expanded Veggies and Herbs to include a broader range of educational services. 

“It's kind of my favorite part of the business,” Borden said. “This is where we truly reach out and connect with youth and just the community.”

The education arm of Veggies and Herbs includes enrichment programs geared towards teaching the value of good nutritional health. Borden has worked with mental health companies, day programs, adult care centers and beyond to help the community live healthier lifestyles and prevent chronic diseases. 

Borden has also done a lot of work with local youth. She has taught classes at some of the Richmond public schools, provided healthy meals for Thomas Jefferson's football team and ran a summer program with the Love & Learn Child Care Center. Overall, she wants children to have the building blocks to lead healthy lives and achieve their goals.

“We talk to them about what they like eating and why they should be choosing healthy things,” Borden said. “They want to be these football, basketball, high school/college players, but at this young age, their diet and their activity levels aren't adequate enough.”

Fitness instruction for individuals and groups is another place where Borden’s passion for health and experience as a former college softball player shine. She does both virtual and in-person sessions, so you can learn exercises to meet your goals in whatever place is most comfortable for you. Whether that’s at home on Zoom, in the basement of your house, at your local gym, or at Borden’s home, she’s happy to meet you where you’re at – and use whatever exercise tools are at your disposal.

“I'm one of those people that love utilizing basic home objects,” Borden said, “If you have some cans in your pantry, if you have some water jugs hanging around, if you have your toddler walking around, you have some weights.”

Reach out to Borden via her contact page or email (SBorden@veggiesnherbs.com) if you’re interested in learning more about the types of fitness instruction she offers.

No matter how you interact with Veggies and Herbs, Borden wants you to know she’s here to hold your hand or give you the tools you need before setting you free.

“Let's say, for instance, you just want to get a fitness consultation where you're just learning the best workout routine for you to gain glutes or lose belly fat or tone up your muscles,” Borden said. “You can have something where we do a full consultation, I give you the information, and then, from there, if you choose to take that information and go to Planet Fitness by yourself… you most certainly can.”

Curious if you’re a good fit for one of Borden’s services? Visit the Veggies and Herbs website to learn more about her offerings and online resources – including her e-books. 

“I also provide eBooks about nutrition and just simple knowledge about what certain diets are, whether it be keto diet, a vegetarian diet, a meat based diet, and then just the benefits of fruits and vegetables.”

Borden works with people of all ages, but her ideal clients are the people who really want to make a change.

“I will say my services are best for people who have that longing, who have that yearning, who know they need to eat better,” Borden said. “I feel like my business helps those people the most because once they do get that knowledge, it's those people who have the biggest epiphanies and they truly try to change their lives and they move forward with the information – and that's whether they stop seeing me or not.”

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